


happy little accidents

by stilljunhui (acyria)



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, But it's there, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Lee Minho | Lee Know is Whipped, M/M, Seo Changbin Knows Everything, They're dancers, and they're not exactly lovers yet either, but they're also painters, except they're not completely enemies, you see more of them painting in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 21:03:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19472149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acyria/pseuds/stilljunhui
Summary: Minho didn't believe in mistakes, just happy little accidents, even if he knew being partners with Hwang Hyunjin couldn't possibly lead to anything good.





	happy little accidents

**Author's Note:**

> title (and summary) from bob ross' quote! i have so many hyunho prompts in my head, but this one stood out bc i love their little love-hate dynamic (even if it's mostly love) and for some reason, painting got into the mix while i was writing, so the fine arts student in me rejoiced.

“Hyunjin, tell your dog to leave me alone.”

Minho stood by the doorway, unable to move due to the little ball of black and white fur that continued to bark angrily at him. He knew that technically, the dog couldn’t actually hurt him. Kkami was roughly the size of his forearm alone. Still, there was a reason why he only kept cats around, despite how he didn’t mind dogs as much as one would think. His cats were whiney sometimes, sure, but definitely never a yapping ball of rage. 

Instead of calling Kkami off, Hyunjin merely scoffed.

“He won’t hurt you,” the younger boy said, pointedly rolling his eyes and heading into the hallway without giving the other boy another glance. “Stop being a baby.”

Perhaps he should have expected that response, since Minho had gotten the same treatment the last two times he came over. It’s not like the older boy _wanted_ to be there either; the two were paired up for a project that involved actual planning and physical work being done. Both of them agreed they’d rather decompose before being seen together on campus, so Hyunjin had suggested working at his house instead. 

It’s not like they were enemies, per se, but Minho wouldn’t call them friends either. Every time the two of them were in the same space together—no thanks to being in the same dance club—they always just sort of clashed. They never agreed on anything, so it was a miracle that they even managed to come up with something cohesive for their studio arts project. The only reason they even ended up classmates was because the older boy didn’t take the subject in his earlier year like he should have, which he was beginning to regret.

Minho gingerly stepped closer to Kkami, who backed away as expected, despite still barking.

“Can’t you keep him in a cage when you know I’m coming over?” The purple-haired boy complained again, sighing as he finally managed to walk past the dog.

“We _never_ keep him in a cage,” Hyunjin replied as he climbed up the stairs, glancing back at Minho so he could give the older boy a proper glare. “Do you keep your cats in a cage?”

“My cats don’t _bother_ people.”

The brunette scoffed before he turned around again, refusing to say anything more that could cause them to argue again. Minho was thankful for that, since the deadline for their project was coming up and he’d rather not waste time debating over why cats were more superior than dogs. It’s happened a few times before during dance practice, where the two of them would inevitably drag poor Felix in the mix; the blonde boy could never decide, so their arguments always ended up a draw.

The two entered Hyunjin’s room, where the large canvas they were working on was sitting prettily in the center of the room, still on the easel like they last left it. Their professor really didn’t give them any specifics for the project, much like all other fine arts teachers, merely pairing them up and telling them to work on something that represented them both. Almost immediately, Hyunjin had suggested they work on a single canvas, but with their own halves. What more represented them better, right?

“I think I’m out of white paint,” Minho realized shortly after the two of them set up, squeezing out what was left in the tube.

Next to him, Hyunjin sighed loudly before rummaging through his art supplies. A few seconds later, he pulled out his own white acrylic paint tube—barely used for his side of the painting—and tossed it towards the older boy, who accepted it with a small word of thanks. After that, they continued on the project like they normally did, painting their own style in silence. Surprisingly, for someone who preferred working with music or at least some kind of sound, Minho didn’t mind the lack of conversation. 

Every now and then, he would glance over at what the brunette was working on and find it hard to look away.

They might not get along, but Minho gave credit where credit was due; he definitely can’t deny that there was just something about Hyunjin that made him immensely talented at whatever the younger boy decided to do. From dancing to painting, Hyunjin had an eye for detail. It was like he always knew what he wanted, imagined nothing less than perfect, and worked hard to achieve it. Even on a canvas with too many colours used, his work looked like organized chaos.

Sometimes, the older boy wished he knew more about Hwang Hyunjin.

He must have been staring at the other side of the canvas for longer than intended, since Hyunjin stopped in the middle of painting to glance over.

“What?” The brunette asked defensively. “Got a problem with my painting now, too?”

“No, it’s really pretty,” Minho found himself replying, quick and honest.

Hyunjin’s jaw dropped for a few seconds in shock, but he managed to pick himself back up rather quickly, turning back to the canvas without another word. The older boy looked away from the painting so he could stare at the painter instead, a small smirk playing on the side of his lips when he noticed that he managed to get the other boy tongue-tied and speechless for once. There was a hint of pink dusting Hyunjin’s cheeks, too, a shade that Minho suddenly wanted to incorporate in his own side of the painting. 

He waved the thoughts out of his head and resumed working.

If he did end up using more pink than intended, well, Hyunjin was to blame.

-

Sometimes, Minho liked to remember the first time he even met Hwang Hyunjin. He liked it mainly because for one, they weren’t at each other’s throats yet. Second, Hyunjin still respected him at least a little bit, since the older boy was the one who welcomed him into the dance club. Third, it’s been such a long time since he last saw the brunette smile so brightly in his presence. The kind of smile that made his eyes disappear, soft and sweet, almost like a newborn puppy. If Hyunjin wasn’t such a cheeky brat, Minho might have found him cute.

“You _still_ find him cute,” Changbin said, rolling his eyes. “I know that look.”

“What look?” The older boy asked defensively, knowing he’ll regret it.

“You have the same look on your face whenever you talk about your cats using you for a scratch post,” his best friend said matter-of-factly, gesturing towards Minho’s face as he continued. “The one where your eyes get all sparkly despite the complaints running out of your mouth, like some kind of masochist. I’ve been friends with you for years, Minho, you definitely have a crush on Hyunjin. You fight with him for fun, don’t you?”

Sometimes it was scary having a friend who was always so deadly accurate about things. Minho should have been used to the way Changbin just knew everything, but it still catches him by surprise at times, especially times where he was left facing his own feelings. Okay, so _maybe_ he still admires Hyunjin now and then—the boy can dance _and_ paint, after all—but calling it a crush was a bit too much. Teasing the boy he liked? It felt like such a high school thing to say. Minho voiced this out and got another eye roll in return. 

“You’re whipped.”

“How can I be whipped for someone I don’t even get along with?”

“I’m sure if you stop picking fights, you guys will actually get along,” Changbin said, something he’s told Minho countless times before.

The older boy huffed, “I don’t _pick_ fights. We really just don’t see eye to eye.”

That wasn’t entirely true, but there was no way Minho was going to admit that the dark-haired boy was right. He can kind of admit that sure, sometimes, he did mock Hyunjin just for the sake of getting a reaction from the younger boy, but in his defense, Hyunjin does the exact same thing. He’s lost count how many times the brunette had given him a disgusted look, complete with judging eyes and a curled mouth. It was extremely annoying, if anything. 

“Speak of the devil,” Changbin muttered, before nodding in the direction behind Minho.

Immediately, the purple-haired boy turned around to find that Hyunjin did indeed enter the cafeteria with his friends in tow. Other than Felix, he wasn’t sure who the others were, but they were always the same group of four people wherever Hyunjin went. Also per usual, the younger boy was laughing in a way that made Minho certain he could hear the high-pitched sound all the way in the other end of the large cafeteria.

“Minho, keep staring and you’ll drill a hole into his head.”

“I wasn’t staring,” the older boy shot back without much bite, turning back to his half eaten meal.

He didn’t need to stare because Minho was pretty sure he’s got most of Hyunjin’s features memorized by now. He wasn’t an art major for nothing. On an aesthetic level, the younger boy was handsome, with picture perfect features that made almost everybody on campus take notice of him. It was like every part of him just fell into the right places. The thing with Hyunjin, however, was that he was much more than just his good looks. 

Honestly speaking, Minho liked it better when Hyunjin wasn’t the image of a perfect boy. He’s seen the brunette annoyed and angry more times than he’s seen Changbin angry and he’s been best friends with the latter for years now. He’s also seen the behind-the-scenes process of Hyunjin’s dance routines, the ones he always performed flawlessly in front of a crowd, but took him long hours of practice and countless mistakes to get right.

If anything, the younger boy was amusing and interesting.

Everybody who knew Minho knew that the purple-haired boy liked being kept amused.

“He’s looking this way,” Changbin muttered a few moments later, kicking the older boy’s shin lightly under the table. “Actually, his whole table is looking this way.”

Well, that was certainly interesting. The older boy pondered over his choices for a few seconds before deciding to throw caution to the wind. He turned around and scanned the crowd of tables for where Hyunjin sat, spotting him soon after. There was a blonde boy sitting next to him that Minho’s never met, but the other two he was with—Jisung and Seungmin—were familiar enough. Jisung in particularly gave him a cheeky grin when he caught the older boy’s eye.

Finally, Minho glanced over at Hyunjin, making sure he had a teasing smirk on his face.

Almost comically, the younger boy’s eyes widened before it turned into a glare, pointedly looking away and making sure to kick Jisung under the table, _hard_. From where he sat, Minho couldn’t really hear them, but he knew enough about Hyunjin that he could tell the latter was telling his friends to stop staring, if the frown on his face meant anything. The older boy knew they must have been talking about him, most likely Hyunjin filled his friends’ ears with complaints.

“His reactions are the best,” Minho chirped happily when he turned back to face Changbin, who merely rolled his eyes.

“You really are whipped.”

-

After a long time staring at the canvas in silence, Hyunjin finally spoke.

“Something’s missing,” he said, tapping the end of his paintbrush on his chin. The brunette no longer cared if he might get paint on himself since he already did that just a few minutes after that started, so Minho didn’t feel the need to point it out. Instead, the older boy was looking at their project and shortly after, found himself thinking the same thing. It was nice, if he had to be honest, well-made to a fault, but neither could pinpoint what else was lacking.

At least they agreed on that.

“If we look at it separately, it’s fine,” Minho said, gesturing to both sides. “But we’re supposed to be submitting this as one project.” 

There was a clear and clean divide right in the center of the canvas, secured by some tape, making sure their two works didn’t touch each other. As expected, Hyunjin’s side was a vast array of colours, nothing but abstract. It reminded the older boy a lot of the way Hyunjin danced, too. Chaos and control rolled into one, making even colours that didn’t look good together somehow manage to work well. It showed in a lot of the brunette’s work.

Meanwhile, Minho liked keeping his paintings simple. He was more of a digital designer, really, but he liked painting sometimes. He only used a few colours, but primarily, he liked adding small detail in just white paint. That also explained why he ran out of the colour so quickly. Side by side, their art styles couldn’t be any more different than they were in real life. Just like how Minho couldn’t find a way to get them to get along, he was at a lost thinking of how to get at least their painting to blend well.

“I think it’s the divide,” the older boy finally said, pointing at the empty space.

Hyunjin, surprisingly, nodded.

“I was thinking the same,” he said, eyes still focused on their painting, absent-mindedly chewing on his lower lip. Minho’s eyes followed the movement without really meaning to, wondering how Hyunjin’s lips almost managed to look soft and plump when the younger boy clearly bit it raw half the time. It was a small habit, but Minho noticed it nonetheless. It was increasingly difficult looking away from Hwang Hyunjin sometimes, but he managed.

Sometimes.

“Maybe if we get rid of the line we drew between us from the beginning, things will actually fall into place better,” Minho blurted out without giving it much thought. For a second, he wasn’t sure if he was still talking about the painting or about his overall relationship with Hyunjin, and it seemed like the younger boy caught on to his implications. The brunette was a smart one, after all. He also had a soft pink tint on his cheeks again, one Minho would call bubblegum pink.

“But our style is so different,” Hyunjin said, still not meeting the other’s eyes. “How will we—I mean, the painting—actually work out?”

With that, the purple-haired boy grinned, “only one way to find out!”

He pulled the younger boy towards his space, eliciting a yelp of surprise, but otherwise Hyunjin complied. Afterwards, Minho took a few steps towards the other side of the canvas, so he was face to face with Hyunjin’s artwork. It was a beautiful mess, but it could use something to tie it all together. Meanwhile, he knew his own work was too clean, too safe, and Hyunjin’s madness could be exactly what it needed.

Without the needs for words, the younger boy seemed to understand.

“Here goes nothing,” Minho mumbled as he tore off the thin strip of tape that divided their works, watching it settle down on the floor. “You ready for this, Hyunjin?”

“You make it sound like such a big deal,” the younger boy quipped, rolling his eyes, but he was clearly brimming with excitement. There was that spark in his eyes, the one that made it seem like he was positively vibrating with energy, the same one he had right before a dance routine. He had something planned up his sleeve; Minho knew he couldn’t wait to see it. Hyunjin was already in the midst of preparing his palette, “it’s just painting.”

The older boy hummed, “what if it’s a little more than that?”

Minho didn’t miss the way the other boy stilled in the middle of picking up his paintbrush, very nearly letting go of it in the process, but in the end managed to catch himself. 

“I guess we’ll have to see,” Hyunjin muttered, cheeks dusted with pink again, right before he began to paint beautiful swirls over the otherwise plain background. There was a hint of smile on the edges of his lips though, curling upwards, maybe for the first time ever in the other boy’s presence. It was enough for Minho to drop the topic, for now, but he knew he was going to end up pushing it further. They finally agreed on something, after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> -,' it would mean a lot to me if you could check[ this](https://twitter.com/stilljunhui/status/1145331943644381184) out! ',-


End file.
